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To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (18425)	4/10/1998 7:46:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 24154

U.S. and Microsoft to Talk Before Possible Showdown nytimes.com At the OK Corral. High Noon is fast approaching. Nah, not really. The wheels of justice grind slowly. The Justice Department's top antitrust official is scheduled to meet with Microsoft Corp.'s general counsel in Washington on Thursday in what both sides are portraying as an effort to find common ground instead of going to court again. But the meeting also promises to be a high-stakes hand in the antitrust poker game being played by the government and Microsoft. The Justice Department must be ready to bring a new antitrust case against Microsoft, even if it chooses not to, if it is to force the software maker to alter practices that it thinks restrict competition and threaten innovation. And Microsoft must be prepared to call the government's bluff and take its chances in court. Although I must again say I don't pretend to understand the legalities here, and don't prejudge the legal outcome, I think it's safe to say a negotiated outcome at this point is unlikely. DOJ got smoked by Bill on the consent decree, they're going to be pretty wary. And Bill's on his own little mission from God, to make the world safe for "innovation", aka the pending Microsoft Millennium. The GGT reaches the same conclusion, more or less. Last October, when the government filed its consent decree case against Microsoft, the suit came four days after a Washington meeting between Klein and Neukom. But both sides said Thursday that Friday's meeting should not be viewed as similar to last October's confrontation. "If this were a last rites meeting, that would be very unusual," said Charles F. Rule, a partner of the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling who is a former head of the Justice Department's antitrust division and now a Microsoft legal adviser. "It would be more likely for this to be part of a back and forth dialogue." For once, I can agree with my old buddy Rick. Cheers, Dan.